A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post on how to manage your time without using a clock. Today I thought I’d continue along that vein and take a somewhat surprising position when it comes to time and time management. That’s right, I’m going to say it: a clock won’t keep you on schedule.

Huh? Why won’t a clock keep you on schedule? A clock won’t help you keep on schedule…you will.

Let’s say you have plans to meet a friend at a cafe at 4pm. You decide you’ll get ready at 3:30pm, leave the house by 3:45pm and meet your friend at the cafe at 4pm. When 3:30 rolls around you start preparing your things. At 3:45 you leave your house. At 4pm you meet your friend at the cafe.

Sounds straightforward, right? How about we approach the same story from a different angle? You start watching the clock at 3pm. You watch the clock in hopes it will help you keep on schedule, but you ignore the clock at both 3:30 and 3:45. You’re still at home at 4pm.

My point is this: a clock is a tool that helps you keep track of time, but it is up to you to put a value on time and react to it. Part of keeping to a schedule (and a big part of time management in general) is that of a stimulus and response. That is, at a certain time you’ll take some sort of action. If you don’t set a time, or if you do set a time and do not make a response, you’ll be behind schedule.

Here’s a few things to keep in mind the next time you are thinking about leaving time management or scheduling in the hands (sorry, I know it’s a bad pun) of your clock:

Don’t hold a clock to more than what it does.

A clock simply tells time. Leave it at that.

Set specific times to act.

If you are getting ready to travel, prepare something, or meet someone at a certain time, define certain times on the clock for you to act. In the example above, both 3:30 and 3:45 were stimuli or times to act.

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR CALENDAR.

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What will be your response?

Now that you’ve set certain times for you to act, what will you do and what actions will you make? When 3:30 rolled around in the above scenario it was time to get ready, at 3:45 it was time to leave the house.

Respond!

If you set a certain time to do something, do it at that time. Don’t ignore the clock. Remember, it’s not about the clock…it’s how you respond to the clock.